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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22479898">Can Droids Feel?</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account'>orphan_account</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Gay Robots, Gen, I Don't Even Know, Injury, M/M, My First Fanfic, Please Don't Hate Me, Tags Are Hard, Tatooine (Star Wars), Tickling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-01-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 12:33:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,080</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22479898</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A lot of people say that droids cannot feel.</p>
<p>Threepio disagrees</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>C-3PO &amp; Luke Skywalker, C-3PO &amp; R2-D2, C-3PO/R2-D2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>86</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Can Droids Feel?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Threepio shuffled closer to Luke Skywalker. His master was doing a diplomatic mission on Tatooine. The number of people in the town uneased him, and he kept getting dirty looks from unfriendly passersby. He shuddered as he remembered how droids were treated on this planet. Anxiety coursed through his circuits. When was he not anxious? However, his level of stress spiked when the Jedi stopped at a familiar bar. Threepio followed him in. A lot of dirty looks were thrown his way. A large organic growled at him, “No droids allowed!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Luke stepped in,  “I need him to translate.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Get that hunk of scrap metal outta here before I blast it outta the bar!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Luke didn’t have time to react as Threepio was shot back out of the bar faster than a ship could warp into hyperdrive. The Jedi's lightsaber was out in a flash. The man saw his lightsaber and decided to drop the subject. He cursed at him as Luke walked out of the bar to his droid.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Typical..." Threepio grimaced to himself in pain. The worn-out protocol droid stumbled to his feet but lost his balance and fell down with a loud thunk. He hissed in discomfort. Organics often stress that droids don't feel pain or pleasure physically. Threepio always wondered about that statement as he was almost certain that he was definitely feeling pain right now. He looked down at the source of the pain, his midsection. An unfortunate shot with a blaster to his unprotected middle damaged some wires of his. He covered the damage with his hand protectively, hissing in agony.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Threepio! Threepio!" The droid heard Master Luke shout over all the noise. The danger was over.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"...I'm right here… sir…" Threepio replied shakily from the ground, gaining the Jedi's attention. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You okay?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Not really, sir, no, I've been damaged! I’ll deactivate for sure!" The droid frantically panicked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You won't, Threepio, I promise," Luke reassured, "let me see…"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Threepio lifted his hand to show him. Luke winced in sympathy. "Nothing Artoo can’t fix.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Luke stood up and offered his hand to the hurt droid. Threepio took it and tried to stand but couldn't. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Um… sir… I-I…" </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It's okay, Threepio, I got you," the Jedi slung the droid around his shoulders, while Threepio made a pained yelp.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Sorry," Luke said as he carried the protocol droid to the ship.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As soon as the two entered the ship, they were bombarded by a series of loud beeps.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>["What the fuck happened?"]</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Threepio was too worn out to reprimand Artoo for his foul language.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Bar fight, Threepio was shot.” Luke gently sat down Threepio, the droid made a noise of discomfort. “Can you fix him?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>["</span>
  <span>Fix him? Of course I can.</span>
  <span>"] He looked at the damaged area of his counterpart’s midsection. At the sight of it, he made a screeching noise of shock and anger.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Artoo, it’s only a scratch…” Threepio lied to try to comfort his counterpart.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>["</span>
  <span>A fucking scratch? Your wires are coming apart!</span>
  <span>"]</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Please just get this over with, you overachieving trash can!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Artoo made a beep of indignation as he looked at his partner, but now was the time to be sympathetic. ["Alright, Goldy, let’s fix you up."] Apprehensive, Threepio nodded. Artoo patted the droid’s head with his claw as tenderly as he could and wheeled to the droids midsection. He took out a solder and began to weld the wires together while his partner made small noises of discomfort.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Threepio tried his best to remain still for his partner, but repairs were usually a painful ordeal. He felt a great surge of discomfort shoot up his circuits and responded with a yelp. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>["Sorry, I’m almost done."]</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Artoo finished soldering and started to readjust Threepio's wires. Gradually the pain vanished and was now replaced with an unfamiliar sensation. It was unexpected and bubbled inside him. An odd noise escaped his mouth</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Artoo paused, curious, he chirped out, ["What was that?"]</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Threepio was embarrassed and stammered out, “I-I’m not sure.” Artoo hummed and began to continue his work. Threepio made the noise again. It sort of sounded like... giggles. [‘</span>
  <em>
    <span>Giggles?</span>
  </em>
  <span>’] Artoo thought to himself, [‘</span>
  <em>
    <span>Since when does he giggle?</span>
  </em>
  <span>’]</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>["You’re not malfunctioning again, are you?"]</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Nno no… it just feels… funny.” Threepio chuckled out. Artoo then stopped for a second and wheeled away to get Luke. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The astromech returned with the Jedi master. "Artoo told me that something was wrong. Can you tell me what happened?" inquired Luke.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Well," Threepio explained, "Artoo was almost done with repair when I felt the strangest sensation travel through my sensors."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Artoo chirped, ["Goldenrod gets the giggles when I touch his wires."]</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I do not!" Threepio huffed out indignantly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>["Watch this,"] Artoo chirped as he started adjusting and connecting the protocol droid's wires. Almost immediately, Threepio started giggling. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Ar-Artoo, pleahease, stop thahat!" The droid protested. Luke looked amused. The protocol droid had no facial expression, yet his laughter and spastic movements made the situation completely understandable.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"He's ticklish," Luke explained, clearly finding the situation interesting. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Noho I'm nohot!" Threepio responded, "Droids areHehent ticklish!"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>["Liar!"] Artoo beeped and started to tickle the poor protocol droid even more. Threepio squealed and his giggles intensified. ["Wow, you’re adorable!"] Artoo teased his counterpart. If Threepio responded, it was in unintelligible giggly gibberish. ["If I knew this would shut you up, I would’ve done it more often!"] </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I didn’t know tickling was a possible thing that droids could experience,” Luke said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>["It is,"] Artoo explained, ["Very rare, but not unheard of, I’m not, but I guess he is. Maybe it’s a system to warn if something crawled into his wires. Or maybe it’s for a more humanoid appearance. He was built for protocol after all…"]</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“When would this be used for protocol ever?” Luke asked. He looked at Threepio, who was still giggling like mad due to being subjected to Artoo’s relentless tickling.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>["I don’t know, but it’s adorable,"] replied Artoo. [“I didn’t know you could laugh like this, Goldy. It’s nice. Can’t believe I didn’t find out earlier.”] Artoo had repaired his counterpart a while ago, but it was these little moments with Threepio that made his day. Luke decided to leave the two alone, Threepio’s giggles echoing after him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“Droids can’t feel,” </span>
  </em>
  <span>some say, but as Threepio’s giggles slowly vanished, he leaned against his counterpart. He listened to the slow whirring of Artoo’s inner workings, for he was now certain that he knew the answer to that long-held debate.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>They can.</span>
  </em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This was my first fic. It was totally self-indulgent. There's not a lot of content for my favorite ship so I made some.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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